Ritchie: The Boy Who Won
by GioRocket
Summary: You know how the story ends, but how does it begin? Witness as, Ritchie, the boy who delivered the most heart breaking defeat in Pokémon history journeys throughout Kanto. Witness how Ritchie became the boy who won.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Hello. My name is Ritchie. I am going to be one of the greatest Pokémon Trainers who ever lived. I am going to become a Pokémon Master!

I am sure you have heard that a million times, right? Who doesn't want to become a Pokémon Master?

While I know you have heard the words before, while I know everybody has heard the words before, this time I really believe is different. I know I can be a successful Pokémon Trainer. I know I can catch them all and I know I can earn the respect of my peers.

I will beat all the Gym Leaders, I will catch all the Pokémon and I will stop at nothing to defeat every single person in the Indigo League.

You see, I'm not like the others. At least that is what I like to think. Everybody else, my so called friends in Frodomar City, my parents, all the Pokémon Trainers I have had the honour to talk to, seem to think that I am just an average Joe, wannabe Pokémon Trainer. A wannabe Pokémon Trainer who will work as hard as he can and learn everything there is to learn about this wonderful world.

But then again, when it is said like that, maybe that's exactly what I am. Everybody has the dream, everybody wants to going around and meet people and create unbreakable bonds with people and Pokémon alike. Few ever actually realise this dream.

That's how I will be different. I will achieve my dream, and I will become the Kanto League Champion.

At any cost...

TO BE CONTINUED… 


	2. My Mystery

Chapter 1 – My Mystery

Woke up early? Check!

Ready for the day I start my Pokémon journey? Check!

Oh, just imagine if I had overslept. Ha!

Dressed in strong and durable clothing? Check!

Received my first Pokémon before I have to register as a Pokémon Trainer? Check!

Then this is it, my journey begins, my dream of being a Pokémon Master starts now! This is gonna be amazing. I am going to look back on this day for years to come. This day will be the day that it all began. Nothing could ruin today, nothing.

I have been thinking about and preparing for this day ever since I can remember. I have packed my bag (weeks in advance, actually), I have five potions, and I have five full heals stuffed inside, I bought a very, very fashionable green outfit that is perfect for the heavy duty, daily grind of a Pokémon Trainer's life. Well, ok, maybe it isn't the most fashionable thing in the world but that doesn't matter, it's resilient and long lasting, and it will protect me in all weathers, that's good enough for me.

I kinda spent all my money on this stuff so they better last until I can get some more cash, though that shouldn't be a problem. With my Pokémon by my side I am sure to be winning battles and earning money in no time.

And most importantly, I have a Pokémon.

Unlike some other beginning Trainers, I don't have to make the long trek over from Frodomar City to Professor Oak's lab in Pallet Town and choose a starter Pokémon. Although I would love the opportunity to go and meet the old Professor and choose a starter from him, I don't need too. You see, I already have my Starter Pokémon covered.

When I was nine years old, exactly one year ago today, my father left me a Poké Ball, and within this Poké Ball would the Pokémon I would begin my journey with. And with this Poké Ball he left me a promise, a promise that if the Pokémon's identity was kept hidden until the day my journey begins then the Pokémon will bring me all the luck I need to win the Kanto League. Superstitious, yes, but I could use all the help I get. And I kept my promise, today I finally get the chance to see the power that's inside my Poké Ball. My Starter.

You have no idea how much I have daydreamed about the Pokémon contained within. My father was never a trainer himself, none of my family or friends were actually, he was just a businessman. And I was never really told how he came about the Pokémon, as he had to move away on business, and he left me the Poké Ball as his parting gift. I wasn't exactly interested in how he got it anyway, just that he got it. And all my thoughts for the past year have been swirling with the idea of who was in this ball. Was it the standard: Charmander, Squirtle or Bulbasaur? Or was it something from another region? Was it a rare Pokémon? Was it a Legendary Pokémon?!

When I started to have visions of myself ordering a Moltres around I eventually slapped myself out of such hallucinations.

But still, why wasn't I allowed to open it? Why did my father want this Pokémon to be shrouded in mystery for a whole year? He knew this Pokémon would be all I would think about. He knew I would be curious.

Maybe he just wanted to torture me with a lesson on patience. He always took things to the extreme like that.

Although, to give myself some credit, I have somehow managed to keep myself from ever actually opening the Poké Ball. A whole year I had to walk past the locked basement where it was held. A whole year I had daydreams of Lugia and Zapdos raging underneath my house.

I know I have probably built up the idea of what this Pokémon will be too much. But, really, I don't mind, even if it was a Cleffa I'd be happy. Well, once the shock had died down anyway.

For the all daydreaming and fantasising I have done about my mysterious Pokémon, today I am finally going to find out the unknown. My Starter, who are you?

It's my 10th birthday today. And just like I do at every birthday(and Christmas) I was wide awake at six o'clock in the morning and I was running throughout the house, tearing all the rooms upside down looking for the key to the basement(and not for the first time since I found out my Starter was in there, I'll admit). But once again I was subjected to another promise. The first time I had heard from my father in a whole year was a simple text: saying that I couldn't open the Poké Ball before I left the house, it must be opened "when my journey officially began".

Even from miles away the old man is annoying.

Well, I have just left my house in Frodomar City. I am dressed. My messy hair is kept under control beneath my hat. My backpack is packed with everything I need. And I am on the way to the Pokémon Centre to get myself officially registered for the Kanto League Challenge.

I stared out over the horizon of the beautiful Frodomar City scenery and couldn't believe all the wonders I had been imagining for the past few years were actually upon me. My dreams were just beginning. The adventures had arrived.

The journey has begun!

Now, with the monotony of everyday life behind me, with my house and home in the dust, I can really get started. The mystery of the Poké Ball will finally end.

So now the time has come. No more excuses, no more promises. My mystery is over.

I took the Poké Ball from my belt and I palmed it in my hands. At some point I must have started breathing heavily, and my hands weren't as steady as they usually are either. I must be more nervous that I thought. I started rolling Poke Ball over in my hands. I had been waiting for this moment all my life, yet now that it's here am starting to feel a little anxious.

There's nothing to be nervous about, there's nothing to be nervous about. I kept repeating the phrase in my head and I plucked up my courage. I tapped the centre of the ball and it shot up in an instant filling my palm.

I clutched the red and white ball of mystery in my right hand, ready to deliver the words I has been waiting a whole year, no, my whole life to saying. I took a deep breath, and tried to steady myself as I prepared to take a strong throw of the ball.

Ok, Ritchie, here we go. "Poké Ball...I choose you!"

The action never came.

Before I could release the ball from my grip I was tackled to the ground. I was attacked from behind and was suddenly face down on the floor.

I was disoriented. What had happened? I tried to get up on my hands and knees and have a look around but I was kicked in the stomach. It took my breath away and I found myself flat on the floor once again. I heard footsteps stomping away as I tried to get up again but was collapsed back down in pain. I turned my head around to see where the footsteps were coming from.

By the time I had collected some semblance of my bearings and tried to pick myself up off the ground, I was watching three men with hoods drawn over their heads running away from me - with my Poké Ball in their possession.

I had been robbed. They had stolen my Pokémon!

I tried to get up, I tried to run after the thieves but I was too slow, I was barely to my feet before they had disappeared over the Frodomar landscape.

It all happened so quickly. They were gone.

My Pokémon had been stolen. The Pokémon that was entrusted to me to help me start my journey was gone. The Pokémon I had been dreaming about all my life was gone just like that!

Why? Why now? Why me! Why would they attack me, I was nobody! I wasn't anyone special.

I don't have a Pokémon, they won't let me register for the League without a Pokémon, and they won't let me become a Trainer!

My dreams flashed before me all at once. Every battle I would have. Every Pokémon I would catch. The special bond I would share with everybody I meet. I had always dreamed of how my journey would begin. I would begin in a blaze of glory. I would catch the strongest Pokémon, I would defeat everybody in my path and I would become undefeated.

But no, that's not what was happening. No glory, no winning streak, no Pokémon. This had never come into the equation. This wasn't something I envisioned.

Of all the ways I had fantasied this day would go, of all the ways my journey could have begun…

My story starts in disaster.

TO BE CONTINUED…


End file.
